


Separate Ways

by digitalduckie



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Backstory, Family, Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 12:54:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13975581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalduckie/pseuds/digitalduckie
Summary: After their parents passed, Marshall and his twin sister, Kitty, decided to head to New Vegas to find their fortune. After a series of reroutes, Kitty starts to have other plans.





	Separate Ways

**Author's Note:**

> "Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart." - Rumi

Cheyenne had not escaped the Great War unscathed. Wyoming had been home to booming uranium mining and Cheyenne was both the capital and the epicenter of transporting the material. It had, however, fared better than Jeffery City. Or at least, as far as the twins had been told by residents who had any prewar knowledge. Still, the city was far from the hazard that had been Dog Town and both Marshall and Kitty were more than happy to settle there as they waited for spring.  
  
As April 2275 drew upon them, Kitty found herself watching her breath fog in the lingering chill of the air. She rarely cared to stay inside when she anticipated her brother's return, even if she had the odd mending job asked of her. The two had traveled a long distance together already and both were no strangers to the hardships of wandering about in the wasteland and she was never truly worried about him running any errands for the residents on his own. It was simply that she sometimes found it difficult to focus. She was certain it was a twin thing.  
  
Likewise, Marshall could always count on his sister to be ready and waiting for him yet it never ceased to put a huge smile on his face to see her outside the inn. "KitKat! I'm back!" he waved before trotting the remainder of the distance.  
  
"And in one piece, as always." Kitty mused before pulling him into a brief headlock. Both nearly 20, he was always going to be shorter and she was always going to love it.  
"Mr Grumbaugh found me and asked if you'd fix up his vest for him before summer." He took the wrestling in stride and managed to pull out a hastily wrapped parcel. Kitty released her brother to take a look at the job as they both stepped back inside the local inn.  
  
"I tried to tell him you couldn't take on too much more since you've already got a lot of worked backed up and because it's almost May." Marshall unwrapped his scarf from his neck, tossing it to the bed as he continued to talk. "But he's really impressed with what you've done for him already and he insisted you'd be able to get it done before we leave and even if you couldn't, he was willing to pay extra caps to get priority. I guess that's fair, right?"  
  
"I can do it." Kitty nodded, holding the vest up and examining the torn seams and frowning at the poor excuse for lining.  
  
"Cool. I can go tell him for you next time I'm out, if you want. I was thinking we should go ahead and start stocking up on some supplies for getting through the Rockies. If we let Viola know now, maybe she and Roger can help get most of it together for us in a month-"  
  
"Hey Marmar..."  
  
"Whatcha need?" Marshall turned to find his sister running her thumb idly over the leather of the vest. Typically she was almost as if not more boisterous than he was and while he could talk up a storm, she usually responded similarly. To see her otherwise made him hesitate.  
  
"I want to stay." She smiled as though she'd just received a particularly thoughtful Christmas gift. One she hadn't expected and yet was so perfectly suited for her. That's what this city was, though, wasn't it?  
  
"To stay? You mean, instead of going to Vegas?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"But it's almost April and we can finally start west along 80-"  
  
"I know, Marmar. I know. But this place, Cheyenne, it's... it's perfect. I've been thinking a lot about it and I think I should stay."  
  
"Well, why? Cheyenne's great, don't get me wrong! But we've already come so far." Marshall dug into his bag, pulling out an old prewar map that was worn at the creases. It was pot-marked with corrections to city names, new towns they'd come across, and a couple of routes crossed off with warnings. The current route highlighted Interstate 80 west from Cheyenne, Wyoming and north of the Rocky Mountain National Park until they crossed the Utah border and into Salt Lake City. It was just a quick trip south from there until they reached their destination. A yellowed postcard softened at the edges and proclaiming that "Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas". Not "Whatever happens in Cheyenne, stays in Cheyenne and never makes it to Vegas".  
  
"Yeah, we have, and Marmar I know Grandpa's postcard means a lot to you, but look at this." Kitty took the map, laying it out on the mattress and pointing to their current stay over. "We're right at the junction of some fantastic resources. If folks around here can mine for coal, what can folks in Colorado bring up? Not to mention all the salvage from Dog Town being just south of the border-"  
  
"Dog Town was a death trap, KitKat!"  
  
"Right, for us, but I can get together a good team-"  
  
"If the feral dogs don't eat them alive-"  
  
"Then I'll end up with materials to smith with! And if I can't, then I'll have plenty to barter with. The people around here could really use it and if I can help contribute that, then I'll be- well I'll be doing better than I was back home, that's for sure. Not only that, but if I-80 really is one of the safest and best routes through the mountains, imagine all the travelers that could really use some good armor and protection or repairs coming and going."  
  
Marshall frowned and looked from his sister to the map. She had a solid point and one she had clearly been thinking about for some time. Kitty had a way of instantly hitting it off with the residents around the city and Marshall didn't think it was simply because they were both genuinely nice. The people were generally a little rougher and unafraid of some hard labor. They were seated smack in the middle of her personal interests, a generous and practical blend of their parents' professions. Cheyenne was exactly what Kitty had been looking for. And Vegas? Vegas had been his own fanciful adventure she had tagged along for.  
  
"But if I go to Vegas without you..."  
  
Here they both fell silent. Neither one had been separated from the other for more than a week or two at a time and only when their father had taken only one of them on a scavenging trip. They had always been KitKat and Marmar.  
  
"I don't want to leave you."  
  
"I'm a big girl, Marmar."  
  
"I mean I'd miss you."  
  
"Then you'll have to come visit sometimes."  
  
"What if I stayed, too?"  
  
"You'd like it."  
  
"Then that's it. I'll stay." Marshall began to fold the map back up, taking care to tuck the postcard securely into the creases it had been nestled in.  
  
"But it's not Vegas." Kitty almost sang it. "It's not bright lights and crooners like on the holotapes."  
  
"It's okay. I'd still have you, at lea-"  
  
"It's not a chance to put all your trick-shots to use. It's not show business." She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow. "Everyone has been made for some particular work..."  
  
"...and the desire for that work has been put in every heart."  
  
"You'd like it here, Marmar, but you need to go to Vegas, just as much as I need to stay here."  
  
He took a deep breath and then exhaled before nodding. Trust Kitty to have pulled their family's mantra on him. It was enough to get him to sniffle before wiping away some tears that began to roll down his cheeks.  
  
"I know you're going to get there just fine and you're going to have a blast." Kitty pulled her brother in for a hug. "And you'll always know exactly where to find me." The hug was perfect camouflage for her own quiet tears. Up until the point they soaked into his shoulder.


End file.
